Small White parasitic fly

[Vince Massimo]

Last October I collected all of the remaining Small White larvae from my garden Nasturtium and reared them on. Had I not done this they would not have survived the approaching cooler conditions. All pupated towards the end of October 2013, but one started to show some brown discolouration at the beginning of April 2014. On 8th April a parasitic grub emerged from the butterfly chrysalis and pupated. An adult Tachinid fly emerged on 30th April, which has now been confirmed (by the Natural History Museum) as being Epicampocera succincta, a classical parasitoid of Pierid butterflies.

Epicampocera succincta and Small White

I also lost my first ever Orange-tip chrysalis to a parasitic Tachinid this year, but the adult fly never hatched. The butterfly larva pupated on 11th July 2013 and the parasitic grub emerged on 2nd April 2014. The puparium was different to that which emerged from the Small White but, in view of the host, it has been tentatively identified as another fly of the Epicampocera genus.

My thanks go to Chris Raper at the Natural History Museum

Vince